Proverbs...Elementary Style Revisited With A New Perspective

These can be pretty fun. I love to read what children think about these famous sayings. Some of their answers made me tear up with pride in their sense of knowledge and innocence. Some made me laugh. Some of them are obviously famous enough that even the youngest child has heard them before.

Allie's "Happy is the bride who ... thinks." Is so awesome! "Don't change horses when you're in the bog" is destined to become a new classic!
When Aidan tells you to "Strike while the ... tiger's not looking," you should probably listen. Both Allie and Aidan are pretty wise when it comes to an idle mind. Listen up!
(And if you want to read the answers from a few years ago, including the teens' answers from many years ago, check out this post.)

1. Don’t change horses (into ponies)(when you’re in the bog)

2. Strike while the (tiger’s not looking)(foe is weak)

3. Never underestimate the power of (Voldemort) (love)

4. It’s always darkest before (bedtime)(light)

5. You can lead a horse to water but (you can’t kill it)(you can't make it drink)

6. Don’t bite the hand that (is powerful)(feeds)

7. No news is (better than this one)(good news)

8. A miss is as good as a (hit)(hit)

9.You can’t teach an old dog new (tricks)(tricks)

10. If you lie down with dogs, you’ll (get furry)(become one of them)

11. Love all, trust (me)(none)

12. The pen is mightier than the (mighty Thor [or sword])(sword)

13. An idle mind is (stupid)(mind undone)

14. Where there’s smoke, there’s (fire)(fire)

15. Happy is the bride who (kisses)(thinks)

16. A penny saved is (good)(a penny earned)

17. Two’s company, three’s (good)(a crowd)

18. Don’t put off till tomorrow what (you can play now)(is here today)

19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and (the whole world cries with you)(the world laughs at you)

20. There are none so blind as (a tree)(the light)

21. Children should be seen and not (not seen)(heard)

22. If at first you don’t succeed (then you try again) (try, try again)

23. You get out of something only what you (do)(give)

24. When the blind lead the blind (make an army)(they both go down)

25. A bird in the hand (will peck you)(is a bird in the dark)

26. Better late than (dead)(never)

Book Recommendation

On his book recommendation for 'Franny K Stein: Lunch Walks Among Us':

Aidan: Recommended for children 1st grade and up. Because smaller children (yes, he says 'children') might be scared and the words are kind of harder. Babies should definitely not read it because they could easily do those experiments and get hurt or at least get in trouble.

Yes, babies could easily sew lunch meat together and add toxic waste to make a giant walking monster. Easy Peasy.

Jack-o-Lantern

This pumpkin was taken down when the Christmas decor came out, but I still wanted to share the picture.  Aidan wasn't entirely satisfied with our autumnal decorations and made his own additions. This, my friends, is how you change a simple fall pumpkin into a true Halloween jack-o-lantern. 

(notice the angry eyes and scary teeth mouth)

The Only Time I Stood In Line With Aidan At The Bank

I know. He's only 5. But I'm pretty sure there won't be many follow up visits to the bank counter with Aidan in tow. Why?
1. I never go to the bank.  We use electronic banking and if I do have to go to the bank to cash checks or something, I do it in the drive-thru. I also do it while the kids are at school.
2. I don't foresee myself wanting to be implicated for bank robbery while talking to the teller ever. Ever again, that is.
Aidan wanted to go into the bank with me to cash checks yesterday. We went to the one in the grocery store so that we could pick up a few essential ingredients for dinner in the same stop. This local credit union isn't exactly my go-to bank. We have an account, but rarely use it. So, a quick check-cashing trip turned into a slightly longer reactivate the account trip. (In my defense, this particular bank sends the account into inactivity after 3 or 4 months. It's really not that long.)
While I was entirely impressed that Aidan chose conversation over mischief, I'm still trying to figure out what goes on in the minds of small children.

A: Mom, has anyone ever gone to jail?
Me: (looking innocently at teller while teller eyes me with raised eyebrows) Yeah, some people go to jail.
A: Who?
Me: I don't know anyone in jail. (get it, teller, I'm not forging checks or robbing your bank)
A: Why?
Me: Well, I guess because I just usually like friends that choose to do right. (get the brainwashing in there)
A: Do you know George Washington?
Me: Yeah, the President of the United States; that one?
A: Yeah. We heard about him for President's Day. Did he go to jail?
Me: Um...I don't think so. He was a good President.
A: Oh.



How, after bringing up such a random topic, can children just drop it so randomly as well? 
Seriously, mystery of the universe.

Let It Snow!

 

 December 5, 2011 The most heartbreaking comment of the morning:
"Do you think the snow will still be here after school? What if we don't get to play in it?" ~Allie
And that, my friends, is THE most convincing argument for a snow day. At least a delay. Come one...nothing?! On the plus side, it looks like we're only looking at a high of 32 today, so we're holding out hope for some snow play.

‎

"We're going to drive in the snow??! Allie, we're going to drive in the snow!!!"
"Wow, there's even snow on the doorknob."
"You sure can tell the difference between snow on trees and just frost on trees."

 "The rooftops are so beautiful."
"Those trees are so cool. No, THOSE trees are so cool. They're beautiful!"

New Flavors!!!

You know what the yellow tastes like? Banana. And the blue is water flavored. Red is peppers...it's spicy. Green is pickles and you know what black is right?! Yep, chocolate flavor.
~Aidan and his M&Ms. (I bet you and your taste buds never realized these candies were flavored before.)

Lies From the Beyond

"Stupid....Stupid...Stupid, Stupid. What? Stupid!"
"Hey Aidan, who are you talking to like that?"
"Grace's Magic 8 Ball. I keep asking if I am the Flash and it keeps saying no."
................................................................
"Aw, yes!!!  It said yes finally!" (dashes speedily down the hall)

His Kryptonite

My awesome little superhero put on the bravado and walked into Kindergarten like he owned the place. Aidan didn't do so well with shots. After not even crying for the first one, he realized she was doing more. It was all over for self-control at that point. When she accidentally threw one of the shots away, and went to get another, he told me, "if she does that again, I will kick her."  He wasn't lying. Our nurse brought in a helper, who immediately reassured me that it was fine if he kicked her, hit her, scratched her...that this was normal for children who are being hurt; they protect themselves, and she's cool with it. And yes, he growled and kicked and screamed and clawed. I found myself wondering just what I was doing. How much is too much? Because really, I don't feel strongly enough about any of those shots to warrant that kind of trauma for him. And of course I continue to dwell on it, replaying and deciding just what will and won't happen in the future.

First Day of School 2011

How sad is it that my baby is in Kindergarten??!!  As hesitant as he was last week at 'Meet The Teacher', he went right in this morning and seemed at ease.
When summer is coming to a close, I am never one to be heard saying, "oh,thank goodness school is back in." Never.  I like my kids. I love when they learn with each other, or with friends, through play. I love having the chance to be more of an influence in their lives than the few hours school allows. But, we're giving it a shot. Aidan is in the dual-language program, so we'll give it a while to see if it's worth 7 hours of school a day.  Allie loves the GT portion of her day, so we'll see if it makes it worth it for her to be bored during some of the other times. Here's to a happy first day of school with absolutely zero tears.  Now, when we finish up with Aidan's doctor appointment today, we'll see if the tears stay away. Immunizations might not even faze this little superhero.

TMI (sort of)

As I pulled the cookies out of the oven, Aidan came in, curious.

"What are those?"
"They're cookies!"
"Well, they look like cookies, but they don't smell like cookies.  It smells like rolls."
"Well, maybe that's because they have cinnamon." (Although I don't exactly put cinnamon in rolls; it was just the more savory smell, perhaps.)
"Oh, yeah. Smells good."
"Yeah, since they're oatmeal, and we like cinnamon with oatmeal, I thought that would taste yummy in the cookies, but it makes them...."
"Okay, okay, enough talk mom, can you tie my costume."

Obviously, he was not up for a long discussion about food and seasonings while there were more important matters to be addressed.  I could just see it in his body language that it was taking all he had to keep control and feign interest for a few small moments.  He was actually in the middle of a fight, which required his Batman Beyond costume to be tied (which he informed me HE was the one tying it, for pretend, but I needed to help because it was behind him).

I'm quite certain I recognized his "barely-listening" because I've felt it myself on occasion.  For example, when you're at the check-out and you're sort of in a time-crunch, and the cashier feels the need to launch into a long story about her nieces and nephews, when, really, you'd just like her to punch in the numbers and get a move on.  Or when you hesitantly opened the door, only to find a salesman on the other side, who, no matter your answer in the negative, continues to try to sell you some worthless junk.  Like that.  :)

More Aidan Shenanigans and Graduation!

Pleading and appealing to mom's sympathies seemed to be Aidan's new trick yesterday.  He loves to get wet, and he loves to get muddy. He just doesn't love to stay in wet muddy clothes for very long.  So, at the end of a very wet, muddy day, 2 showers, and 7 clothes changes later, bed time finally arrived!  As we walked back to his room, I told him we were getting pajamas and a book so we could brush teeth and get to bed. MELTDOWN!


You would have thought the world was ending if you heard the pleas of that little boy. "But the sun is STILL shining! It's not time for bed. But I didn't even get to go to my friend's house." After a brief pause, in which he realized he did go to friends' houses, and had friends over, he got a little more specific. "My friend that's a girl, and her name starts with an "M". Why can Allie go to Maria's house and not me?"  


We managed to get teeth brushed with major dramatics in the mirror. I had to hide my laughing because I was certain he wouldn't find it very funny, but he was at the crying point where he wanted to keep crying because of the release, the emotion, and the look of it all.  He admired his open mouth wailing when he took over the brushing, and then we headed out to read. I thought he was over the "going to a friend's house", but apparently I was wrong. "How about now can I go? How about now? How about now?"  What???  When did this kid learn to beg?


So, lying in bed, I figured he could use company while Allie was showering. He asked me to "go to your bathroom and tell her to 'get clean and get out', but come right back." (That's my go-to phrase for anyone in the shower; otherwise they seem to take all day. Well, they still take an eternity, maybe I need a new catch phrase.)  I was right. He wanted company and peace and fell straight to sleep. Even before Allie came in for pajamas. 

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My happy little la-la world had a small ending as well.  Aidan just graduated from PreK this week. I didn't thing it would be a big deal, but the song they had playing with their slide show was just too sweet.  After the kids all recited the Pledge, the alphabet, counting, Spanish colors, and some fun songs they learned, they each got their certificate and told the audience what they wanted to be when they grew up. Bull Rider, Cow Roper, NFL Football player, veterinarian, and ballerina were all popular choices. Just one of those cuties wanted to be Spiderman when he grows up. Yep, that's Aidan.  He told me this in advance and I tried to ask him about some other career choices. "So, you want to help people? Do you want to be a police officer? Or a detective?"  No, he insisted. "Police men don't get to do cool moves like Spiderman."  Okay. He's totally right. And can you totally tell we live in Texas? Not only do these kids choose "Bull Rider" as their future career, they also know how to do it. One of these little guys, at 3 and 4 years old, goes out with his dad and rounds up the cattle. He knows all the official terminology and it's slightly adorable and a little amazing. 


Aidan's school career is a little up in the air right now. In Texas, children have to turn 5 before September 1 to be eligible to start Kindergarten.  Since Aidan's birthday is just before that deadline, I might normally be feeling lucky to just make the cut.  But, I have so many hesitations about starting him, and also many about having him stay in PreK for another year.  

At this point, I preregistered him for Kindergarten and also preregistered him for PreK.  In this area, many of the parents wait an extra year before starting their children in Kindergarten, especially the boys.  It's my opinion, and experience in discussions, that it isn't just that boys aren't ready. Honestly,they want them to be bigger for football.  Which really has its own set of pros and cons, more pros in this area, really, otherwise, they'll just get killed on the field, so their concern is valid.  


So, size is a slight factor, if we were looking to stay here in Andrews until Aidan is in football, which really begins next year for kids here.  haha


My main concern is that Kindergarten here is 8-3. In my opinion, the school system is set up to be a taxpayer-funded babysitting service. I think it's unfair for the teachers to have to discipline children just because the parents don't want to. I think it's really unfair to the children who don't need to be at school for 7 or 8 hours when they really aren't learning 7 or 8 hours of info.  I feel hesitant to send him to a 7 hour school day because I feel like he would get much more out of his day by NOT being in school.


As Aidan's birthday is right at the end of the cut-off, he is already one of the youngest.  There are kids who have April and May birthdays who have already waited a year, which makes Aidan 1 and 1/2 years younger than some of his fellow Kindergarteners.  I'm not sure this makes a big difference education-wise.  They will all always be on the same grade level.  My concern comes in the later years when milestones are measured by school year.  Milestones and "rites of passage" are already coming sooner and sooner and with school peers a year and a half older, there will surely be expectations at a younger age for him.  


But, if we move, which we intend to do sometime, there will be more kids who are the same age as him in the same grade if we start now, right?!  And, if he starts K at barely 5, he will graduate when he's 17 and have all summer before turning 18, where a lot of kids will already be 18. But if he starts K at 6, he will be starting his senior year at 18 already. Does that make it harder or easier, peer wise? 


See the dillema?  I'm overthinking it all and can't come to a conclussion.  


Maybe I should send him to PreK for the friendships he likes, but basically do Kindergarten homeschool, then send him to 1st grade next year, just to avoid my little 5 year old having to have a 7 hour school day. 


....and off I go to think about it and not think about it some more.

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Wanna know what Aidan was doing while I typed this?  He had a water fight with his siblings in the backyard, managing to throw some mudblobs also...in his church clothes. Then he sat down to eat dinner, which D so kindly served them, and dipped his bread in his drink, shaking it and spreading liquid around. I didn't have to clean it up. D did. :)

Scissor Sacrifice

Courtesy of an inquiring 4-year-old mind.

Falafel Waffles

Okay, not really.  But Aidan asked for these again.

"What do you want for lunch Aidan?"
"Waffles. But not real waffles. Those brown ones with cucumbers that we ate last time at dinner."
"Falafel?"
"Yeah, fala waffle."
"Just Fa La Fall."
"Oh. Fa La Fall. fa waffle. fa lafel. falafel. I said it. Can I have that?"

Winter Blossoms

I love the Pecan trees in the winter. In addition to the bare branches, the sky is dotted with these...

All those little hulls eventually open and release the pecans. All those little clusters of the hulls eventually fall as well. But, in the cold months, it's kind of nice to see reminders of the fruits of the trees.

On the way to the neighborhood park, we pick a few up and have a snack at the park.  While playing at the park, we can just grab a few from the grass and munch. Fun, right?!

A Little MoJo

Yep.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Corned beef is our basic stand-by St. Patrick's Day dinner. The sides vary, but I never make cabbage. I don't like cooked cabbage. Unfortunately for me, corned beef seems to be the same as every other meal in this house, which is some people like it, some people don't.  In the interest of change, I switched it up. We did not have corned beef this year.  Nearing dinner time, I regretted the meal plan. I started thinking that just because my family always manages to complain about something, I shouldn't break with tradition. Lucky for my meal plan, I only have one grocery store in town and I was almost certain I didn't want to buy corned beef there.

I stuck with the plan and we had green food! No dye.  There are plenty of delicious green foods out there without adding dye to food that isn't actually green.  (Also, one year we had green milk at breakfast and  green mashed potatoes with dinner and that did not go over well. Entirely unappetizing to our children *remember, they are "selective".* And to be honest, I found dyed-green food unappetizing as well. No use making unappetizing food if your kids don't even think it's fun or cool or yummy. )

Leprechaun Greens with Pot of Gold

Leprechaun Greens for dinner:
Green Goddess Pasta and Chicken Salad
Cucumber
Spinach Salad

Allie called our Kool-Aid, which was pink, "Fairy Punch" (we don't have Kool-Aid often, and I didn't have green on hand)

Dessert:
Pot of Gold (aka lemon jello cubes)

Aidan came up with an amazing recipe, which you may be at a disadvantage for future lemon-aid stands if I don't share this valuable knowledge.

"To make lemon juice you should have jello and a jello squisher. Then put the jello in the jello squisher and hold it over a cup. Then. Poof. You have lemon juice that's yummy to drink! Or if you don't have a jello squisher, you can just swish the jello in your mouth until it is juice. Then swallow." (We don't have a jello squisher. He is just the patented inventor of that little miracle machine.)

Can you tell we don't have jello that often either?

Random

I love that Aidan calls his pajamas "p-jammies".  He has mixed up all the words for them and I love it. Yesterday, he was upset with Alex and Aimee for putting "daytime clothes in the p-jammies drawer."  He asked them to make sure to put day clothes only in the lowest bottom drawer and only p-jammies in the p-jammies drawer. Sheesh.

Tonight Allie asked for her maple syrup on the side of her french toast, not on it. She was finding that the syrup was running anyway and she kept moving her french toast away from it. In a slight whine, she told me that her syrup was going to touch her toast and told her I was a little surprised.  I told her a child in the Gifted and Talented program should be able to figure out how to stop the syrup from running into the toast. She laughed at me. "Mom, our test was easy, not figuring out how to make food not touch each other." (She was one of only 4 who passed that test.) She did finally put a bite of toast on either side of the syrup, but insists that she "still didn't want it to touch at all."

After the tooth fairy missed our house the night before last, Allie was excited to bring out her money and gum this morning.  She chewed a piece of gum while dousing herself in tooth fairy glitter. When she was all sprinkled up, we were able to head to school. She was very sparkly.

Sparkles...although you can't see them well...they are in the hair, on the face, on the clothes...

Challah bread makes yummy french toast.

Too many teenagers have their own cars these days. In general, I feel that there is a general feeling of what people think they deserve and what the world owes them.

Scissors can look like a guitar. Aidan was very immersed in his guitar task. I think it must have evolved from a basic scissor tracing, though.  We now have a few "guitars" hanging around the house.

Allie free-handed hers...

"guitar"

concentrating

guitar...I promise

Did I forget to mention that Aidan changes clothing multiple times a day, multiple costumes a day?  Yeah, all day..

"Snow"man January 2011

What can I say? We live in Texas. We have had unseasonably warm temperatures, which make for happy spirits, for me anyway. But, last winter, we got to build a snowman. This year...no snow. Aidan improvised.

Snowman plate + Snowflake Ritz crackers + Baby Mozzerella (already round "snowballs") + Aidan's request for raisins and carrots.


You don't really want to know how many of them he ate.
(Hint: he was more creative, less hungry.)

Tag Artist

Lucky for us we have our own little tag-artist in the house. And yes, it's adorable.
(Those pictures were Allie originals! She wasn't happy about the addition.)



And also naughty.




He tagged the mirror with the smiley, and the scale with his name and a smiley. I cleaned those quickly and easily, though.

What is Shrimp?

Allie: I will eat most foods, except not a lot of meat. And not shrimp.
Aidan: What's shrimp?
Allie: Shrimp is and animal and you cut off its tail and its legs and I think its head. And then you cook it and then it's meat. I don't like it."